Chicago Bulls: Why Now Is the Time to Amnesty Forward Carlos Boozer

Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer was signed to a five-year contract during the historic 2010 offseason after the Bulls struck out on all of their top free-agent targets. Ever since, Boozer has become a scapegoat for the team's shortcomings, and an albatross of a contract against the Bulls' salary number.

Because of this, the Bulls should use the team's amnesty clause to waive Boozer this offseason. 

The primary reason that the Bulls should use the team's amnesty clause is because of the new luxury cap rules in place with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The big new rule is the "repeater tax" that penalizes teams for being in the luxury tax for multiple seasons in a row.

It is no question that the Bulls will be in the luxury tax in the coming few seasons, but the question is whether they will be able to avoid the repeater tax. 

As things stand, the Bulls are likely to go into the luxury tax this upcoming season. The question that remains is this: is it worth it to go into the luxury tax and risk the repeater tax in a season where the team is not likely to contend for a championship? 

It would be smart for the Bulls to avoid paying the luxury tax this season, to push back the repeater salary tax. Amnestying Boozer's salary would guarantee the Bulls would avoid the luxury tax, and that the Bulls would have the larger of the two mid-level exceptions available to offer free agents. 

On top of this, the amnesty salary rule is likely to help the Bulls most this season. After a player is amnestied, he goes through a waiver process where teams place a bid for how much money they are willing to pay him throughout the duration of his contract, which is three years in Boozer's case.

Any money that another team agrees to spend on the amnestied player is subtracted from the amount the original team has to pay him. Boozer's value is much more likely to be high this offseason than next, so teams will be willing to spend more money on him this offseason, which could only bring savings for the Bulls.  

As I said before, the Bulls are unlikely to contend for a championship this season because point guard Derrick Rose will still be rehabbing from a knee injury. Because of this, you have to start to look ahead to the season afterwards. At that point, Boozer will definitely be amnestied, as his age will start to get in the way of his effectiveness. 

In the instance of Boozer's departure, Taj Gibson would be able to take Boozer's spot in the starting lineup. While Gibson is not quite the offensive player that Boozer is, he is a FAR superior defensive player. It makes sense for the Bulls to groom Gibson as a starter this season, so that he could be ready for the season afterwards. Gibson can start, and hopefully the Bulls will be able to get European star Nikola Mirotic to come over and be an offensive power forward the season after that. 

Both financially and basketball-wise, it makes sense for the Bulls to amnesty Boozer this offseason and move on without him.